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March 20, 2007
Lobbying Ms. Burden: DCP gives up on WillyB blockage, mall "overbuild"
Atlantic Yards Report explains that Forest City Ratner lobbied the Department of City Planning and considers what the Atlantic Yards developer got in return.
So what did Forest City Ratner get from having Fried Frank lawyer Melanie Meyers, a former general counsel (1994-1998) to the Department of City Planning (DCP), lobby her old agency last year regarding Atlantic Yards? (Fried Frank had the largest single lobbying contract in the state.)
We can't be certain, but documents acquired via a Freedom of Information Law request show that DCP in 2006 backed down from two requests--including a request not to block the Williamsburgh Savings Bank--made by City Planning Commission Chair Amanda Burden in the previous year.
Moreover, DCP last year participated in a clear charade--a "recommendation" that Forest City Ratner reduce the height of several buildings, even though the developer had put most of the cuts on the table several months early.
For readers who are not aware of the three additional towers being designed by Gehry and built by Ratner over the Atlantic Center Mall, this is a must read.
Posted by lumi at March 20, 2007 7:01 AM